Leaks from pipelines have caused environmental damage and much adverse publicity. The reaction from the pipeline companies and government regulators is to propose the installation of an Emergency Flow Restrictor Device (EFRD) at intervals along each pipeline. Through use of the EFRD, sections of pipeline can be isolated to limit the amount of leakage to a damaged section.
The installation of EFRD along existing pipelines is slowly progressing. The current method used to install an EFRD (Emergency Flow Restrictor Device) valve is quite cumbersome as it requires a great deal of preparation work and expense. It also requires stopping the flow of the pipeline (called an outage) for about 24 hours (or installing a temporary bypass line and 2 more stopples). Without the bypass line it is very difficult to coordinate an outage date, often taking as much as a month. Even when an outage has been approved, there is the problem of meeting the installation deadline. The deadline is very strict (there is enormous money at stake) so the supervisor is forced to have everything he might need on site. Because so much extra equipment must be on site it requires a huge parking area (and because the pipelines cross mostly private land) it usually means placing an enormous amount of wooden mats to prevent soil damages. Of course the safety challenges of working crews around the clock, and under a tight timeline, are much greater as well. What is required is a method that will enable an EFRD to be installed without stopping the flow of fluid through the pipeline